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Time tracker: how to lock record created using that block?

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I would like to lock the permissions of editing ‘duration field’ to creators and up (that is easy), but let editors to be able to include information there ONLY by using time tracker block.

My goal is to lock to the possibility to change amount of time manually. So, I can use that time duration for billing purposes.

However, the problem is:

  1. IF I set permission of editing for ‘creators and up’, Time Tracker block can’t be used by ‘editors’ (my general employees)

  2. IF I set permission of editing for ‘editors and up’, Time Tracker block can be used by ‘editors’ (my general employees), but they can ALSO change the amount of time of the duration field manually (non secure information).

Does anyone know how to solve that situation?

Best answer by ScottWorld

Mateus_Eckert_X wrote:

Thanks for your suggestion, Scott.

This may be an option. However, it does not guarantee that employees will use Time Tracker to enter values in ‘Durantion Field 2’. Instead, they can fill it manually from the beginning, correct?


Yes, that is true. So instead of automating the process of going from Duration 2 field to Duration 1 field, you could manually do the process to add that extra step of “human authorization and human approval”. Add that human element into it.

Otherwise, it sounds like you’d really like to have a custom interface with custom restrictions for your employees when using your system, which isn’t really possible in Airtable. Think of Airtable as a spreadsheet with some extra database functions built into it.

I would also think about using a different platform altogether — a platform that is a dedicated time tracking platform, for example — and do all of your time tracking there. Then, you could automate the process of bringing in the totals from there into Airtable. Your employees could use that other platform, and then that platform would send the data into Airtable.

Also, a full-blown custom app creation platform like FileMaker (which is my other expertise) can be used to create a custom time tracking app for you on both mobile and desktop, and then you could use Airtable’s API to have your custom FileMaker app communicate natively back-and-forth with Airtable. Two-way, real-time, instant communication between FileMaker and Airtable is a great way to have the 2 platforms communicate with one another.

If you need my personal help with any of these options, feel free to send me a private message.

Hope this helps! If one of my posts answers your question, could you please mark one of my comments as the solution to your question? This will help other people who have a similar question. :slightly_smiling_face:

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3 replies

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Brainy
  • 8763 replies
  • May 27, 2020

Welcome to the community, @Mateus_Eckert_Xavier!

There is no way to directly do what you are requesting, so I think your best bet here is to create a different duration field (let’s call it “Duration Field 2”) for your editors that you attach to the time tracker block.

Then, your editors will have full access to “Duration Field 2”, and they will be able to access it via the time tracker block (or any of the views in your Airtable database).

Then, you can setup a manual or automated process to periodically review the data that was entered into “Duration Field 2”, and put it into the original, creator-allowed, duration field.

You could easily automate something like this with Zapier, and you could easily make it so that once the data from “Duration Field 2” is transferred into the original duration field, that the data in the original field never gets overwritten again.

M
ScottWorld wrote:

Welcome to the community, @Mateus_Eckert_Xavier!

There is no way to directly do what you are requesting, so I think your best bet here is to create a different duration field (let’s call it “Duration Field 2”) for your editors that you attach to the time tracker block.

Then, your editors will have full access to “Duration Field 2”, and they will be able to access it via the time tracker block (or any of the views in your Airtable database).

Then, you can setup a manual or automated process to periodically review the data that was entered into “Duration Field 2”, and put it into the original, creator-allowed, duration field.

You could easily automate something like this with Zapier, and you could easily make it so that once the data from “Duration Field 2” is transferred into the original duration field, that the data in the original field never gets overwritten again.


Thanks for your suggestion, Scott.

This may be an option. However, it does not guarantee that employees will use Time Tracker to enter values in ‘Durantion Field 2’. Instead, they can fill it manually from the beginning, correct?

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Brainy
  • 8763 replies
  • Answer
  • May 28, 2020
Mateus_Eckert_X wrote:

Thanks for your suggestion, Scott.

This may be an option. However, it does not guarantee that employees will use Time Tracker to enter values in ‘Durantion Field 2’. Instead, they can fill it manually from the beginning, correct?


Yes, that is true. So instead of automating the process of going from Duration 2 field to Duration 1 field, you could manually do the process to add that extra step of “human authorization and human approval”. Add that human element into it.

Otherwise, it sounds like you’d really like to have a custom interface with custom restrictions for your employees when using your system, which isn’t really possible in Airtable. Think of Airtable as a spreadsheet with some extra database functions built into it.

I would also think about using a different platform altogether — a platform that is a dedicated time tracking platform, for example — and do all of your time tracking there. Then, you could automate the process of bringing in the totals from there into Airtable. Your employees could use that other platform, and then that platform would send the data into Airtable.

Also, a full-blown custom app creation platform like FileMaker (which is my other expertise) can be used to create a custom time tracking app for you on both mobile and desktop, and then you could use Airtable’s API to have your custom FileMaker app communicate natively back-and-forth with Airtable. Two-way, real-time, instant communication between FileMaker and Airtable is a great way to have the 2 platforms communicate with one another.

If you need my personal help with any of these options, feel free to send me a private message.

Hope this helps! If one of my posts answers your question, could you please mark one of my comments as the solution to your question? This will help other people who have a similar question. :slightly_smiling_face:

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